SEARCH SITE
VIRGINIA LAW PORTAL
- Code of Virginia
- Virginia Administrative Code
- Constitution of Virginia
- Charters
- Authorities
- Compacts
- Uncodified Acts
- RIS Users (account required)
SEARCHABLE DATABASES
- Bills & Resolutions
session legislation - Bill Summaries
session summaries - Reports to the General Assembly
House and Senate documents - Legislative Liaisons
State agency contacts
ACROSS SESSIONS
- Subject Index: Since 1995
- Bills & Resolutions: Since 1994
- Summaries: Since 1994
Developed and maintained by the Division of Legislative Automated Systems.
2019 SESSION
SB 1717 Commonwealth Care Health Benefits Program; association health plans for individual market.
Introduced by: Siobhan S. Dunnavant | all patrons ... notes | add to my profiles
SUMMARY AS PASSED SENATE: (all summaries)
JLARC; association health plans for the individual market; review. Directs the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC), as part of its review and evaluation of the agencies and programs under the Secretary of Health and Human Services, to examine and review the implications of the establishment, implementation, and administration of a program, to be known as the Commonwealth Care Health Benefits Program (the Program), under which a division of the State Corporation Commission (the Commission), or nonprofit corporation established by the Commission, will be the sponsor of association health plans through which it will sell individual health insurance coverage in the Commonwealth. The bill provides that JLARC shall request and consider information and input from the Commission's Bureau of Insurance and the Secretary of Health and Human Resources. The measure provides that elements of the Program to be reviewed and examined by JLARC shall include: (i) implementation of the Program would be contingent on the approval of the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services of a state innovation waiver under § 1332 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA); (ii) the Commission will retain staff sufficient to establish and implement the Program; (iii) the Program will arrange for a number of third-party administrators, sufficient to ensure competition but in no event fewer than two; (iv) the Program will design and implement health plans that those currently sold through the federal exchange; (v) the covered benefits provided under a plan offered through the Program would provide coverage that a large group plan or association health plan subject to ERISA is required to provide so long as one or more health plans provide additional benefits as may be required to provide coverage that is at least as comprehensive and affordable as plans currently offered on the exchange pursuant to the ACA or otherwise to comply with the Guardrail requirements of the ACA; (vi) the Program will address the establishment of a reinsurance program; (vii) health plan premiums for individuals with a household income between 100 percent and 400 percent of the federal poverty level would be subsidized; (viii) the Program will offer a cost-sharing reduction feature that removes disincentives to Program participation by low-income individuals who are enrolled in the Medicaid program; (ix) individuals will still be able to purchase individual health insurance coverage outside of the Program; (x) premiums for the plans offered through the Program will be set by the third-party administrators, subject to approval by the Commission with assistance of qualified actuaries; (xi) the Program would be designed and operated in order to ensure that any shortfall in revenues is addressed by the reinsurance program and by self-funding a reserve that is determined by the Corporation's actuary to be adequate, and (xii) the Program will include premium incentives for compliance with wellness or chronic disease management benefit programs. The bill requires JLARC to report its findings and conclusions to the Joint Committee for Health and Human Resources Oversight.
FULL TEXT
- 01/15/19 Senate: Presented and ordered printed 19102425D pdf | impact statement
- 02/05/19 Senate: Floor substitute printed 19106470D-S1 (Dunnavant) pdf | impact statement
HISTORY
- 01/15/19 Senate: Presented and ordered printed 19102425D
- 01/15/19 Senate: Referred to Committee on Commerce and Labor
- 01/31/19 Senate: Reported from Commerce and Labor (11-Y 4-N)
- 02/01/19 Senate: Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
- 02/04/19 Senate: Read second time and engrossed
- 02/04/19 Senate: Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
- 02/04/19 Senate: Passed by for the day
- 02/05/19 Senate: Engrossment reconsidered by Senate (38-Y 0-N)
- 02/05/19 Senate: Floor substitute printed 19106470D-S1 (Dunnavant)
- 02/05/19 Senate: Reading of substitute waived
- 02/05/19 Senate: Substitute by Senator Dunnavant agreed to 19106470D-S1
- 02/05/19 Senate: Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute SB1717S1
- 02/05/19 Senate: Constitutional reading dispensed (38-Y 0-N)
- 02/05/19 Senate: Passed Senate (40-Y 0-N)
- 02/08/19 House: Placed on Calendar
- 02/08/19 House: Read first time
- 02/08/19 House: Referred to Committee on Commerce and Labor
- 02/12/19 House: Referred from Commerce and Labor by voice vote
- 02/12/19 House: Referred to Committee on Rules
- 02/19/19 House: Left in Rules